PESHAWAR: Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Engr Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz on Saturday urged the government to announce a comprehensive fiscal relief package for coronavirus-hit small industries and traders.
During a meeting with a business delegation, the SCCI president noted that besides general masses, the business community, particularly small industries and traders, had been adversely affected by coronavirus outbreak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pervaiz said a financial relief package for small-scale industries, traders and shopkeepers would not only help revive economic and commercial activities in the province but would also enable the country’s economy to avert a certain recession.
Noting that half of the country’s population was living below the poverty line, he called upon philanthropists and well-off people to financially support the deserving people during the crisis period.
He maintained that trade and economic activities had come to a halt due to prolonged lockdown, which was imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19.
He added that small industrialists, traders and shopkeepers were facing enormous financial challenges under the prevailing circumstances.
“The SCCI demands the government to immediately announce an economic relief package wherein all taxes for small industries and traders are waived, payment of electricity and gas bills are deferred and additional surcharges on utilities are mot imposed,” he added.
